Snickerdoodles and Cookie Baking 101

Snickerdoodles - from The Magnolia Bakery by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey

This is another blog post I've been meaning to write for awhile.  The greatest enjoyment I get from writing my blog is being able to share the recipes I've tried, how they turned out, what I think of them and what, if anything, I would suggest to make them better.  It absolutely makes my day when someone tries a recipe I've blogged about and enjoyed it for themselves.  It also absolutely distresses me when someone tells me they tried something but "it didn't turn out" like mine.  For the longest time, I just didn't get it.  I posted the exact same recipe I followed, I talked about what I did and, depending on the recipe, what mistakes I made that people shouldn't do so they can avoid the problems I had with something and make theirs better than mine.

In trying to do an autopsy, so to speak, on my friends' and relatives' baking mishaps, I started to ask more detailed questions to get to the root causes of the problems: what ingredients did you use?  How long did you bake it?  What did it look like when you took it out of the oven?  What did your batter or dough look like?  What pan did you use? Did you preheat the oven? The varying answers I got made something really clear to me: it's not just about the recipe, it's also about the technique.  I've blogged before about some simple baking tips so I won't repeat those here.  But I will add further to the list  and, for this post, in the context of cookie making.

Some weeks ago, my friend Karen was baking batch after batch of cookies but was dissatisfied with her results as they weren't coming out the way she wanted them too.  In making chocolate chip cookies, the different recipes she tried either weren't spreading like she wanted or they were too dry.  The dryness was easy to remedy as I discovered she was baking them until the middles were done.  Oh no.  For chocolate chip cookies and anything of their texture, bake until the edges are done and the middles are just barely not doughy-looking anymore.  They might puff during baking but you want the middles to sink when they cool.  That'll give them their chewy and moist texture.  If you bake until the middles are done, the cookies will be dry.  So that solved the problem of the chocolate chip cookie.  In Karen's own words, "oh the middles are supposed to sink!"  Yep, that's right.

But bear in mind this doesn't hold true for all cookies because it really depends on what type of cookie you're making.  Once Karen had conquered the chocolate chip cookie issue, she moved on to Snickerdoodles and was trying this recipe from Magnolia Bakery, a cookbook I have and a recipe I've also tried before.  They weren't turning out like she had made them before at a friend's place: the cookies weren't spreading and they were coming out either too dry or too underdone.  I couldn't diagnose the issue virtually so I went over to her house to watch her in action.  The best way to help someone is to have them do it themselves and observe what's happening.

As near as I can tell, Karen was doing everything right: all her ingredients were at room temperature when she started, she mixed correctly according to the recipe, and she had chilled the dough before baking it.  Yet something was still off.  The only thing I corrected in her mixing of the dough was to teach her the dip and sweep method in measuring the flour.  You never want to tamp the flour down in the measuring cup.  You'll end up with too much flour, too stiff of a dough and dry cookies.  Karen didn't make this mistake but in general, you also want to add the dry ingredients in 2-3 parts, not all at once, so that you can incorporate the dry ingredients well into the dough or batter and let the dough "come together".

We ended up taking out the cookies on the slight side of underdone to try and avoid the other cause of dryness besides too much flour: overbaking.  The cookies were fine when we took them out of the oven but we left them on the hot cookie sheet while we focused on another batch of dough.  I had forgotten one basic rule of cookie making: cookies will continue to bake on a hot cookie sheet even after they're out of the oven.  Subsequently, the first batch we had left on the cookie sheet baked up a little more than I would've recommended.  Easy remedy to that is to leave them on the cookie sheet for only a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. 

The basic nature of a snickerdoodle is they tend to be more cakey and not have a chewy-dense-moist texture like a chocolate chip cookie.  It's not to say they're automatically more dry than a chocolate chip cookie but you do have to factor in the type of cookie you're making as well in order to gauge its success.  We ended up with a batch Karen was happy with and she was assured her cookie making skills were fine :).

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon for sprinkling

1.    In a small bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

2.    In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat well.  Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

3.    Preheat oven to 350˚F.

4.    Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion.  (I recommend leaving extra room between these cookies because they spread more than most.)  Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake for 12-14 minutes.

5.    Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut and Caramel Blondies

Coconut and Caramel Blondies - made October 6, 2011 from Chocolatier Magazine, July 1999 issue

It's fall, it was rainy last week and I'm ready for some "comfort baking".  And it seems like so are a lot of people as I see many cute Halloween treats popping up as well as the autumn flavors of pumpkin and apple.  I'll be getting to those too but one of my favorite flavors year round as well as reminding me of fall is actually caramel.  Maybe it's the color or the association with caramel apples which I also associate with Halloween and holidays.  I don't know why because to be honest, I've had maybe one caramel apple in my life.  I love apples and I love caramel but not together.  Except maybe in a caramel apple pie and that's only when the apples are tart enough to offset the sweetness from the caramel.  Otherwise my teeth just ache thinking about it.  In any case, when I made these coconut blondies and topped them with a layer of melted caramel, while it was dark and gloomy outside, that just made me feel like I was really ushering in my favorite season of the year.

It didn't hurt either that these were awesome blondies.  I normally don't like blondies as much as brownies as there are some that are too sweet or they dry out easily.  But I liked these because the coconut really gave them a nice texture and helped to keep the texture both moist and chewy.  The caramel layer on top was decadence itself.  Cut these pieces small as they can be rich.

Blondie batter

1 cup bleached all-purpose flour

¼ cup cake flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups sweetened flaked coconut

¾ cup chopped walnuts

Caramel topping

16 vanilla-flavored caramels (5.2 ounces total weight)

2 tablespoons light cream

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1.     Make the blondies: Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Coat the inside of an 8” square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.  The pan should be thoroughly coated, as the blondie batter tends to stick.  Set aside.

2.     Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon onto a sheet of waxed paper.

3.     Blend together the melted butter and dark brown sugar in a medium bowl.  Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.

4.     Stir in the sifted mixture, blending until all the particles of flour are absorbed.  Stir in all the coconut and walnuts.  The batter will be thick and slightly glossy.

5.     Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan.  Spread the batter evenly in the pan.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until set.  Let the blondies stand in the pan on a cooling rack while you prepare the topping.

6.     Make the caramel topping: Place the caramels, cream, and nutmeg in a small heavy saucepan (preferably enameled cast iron).  Set over moderately low heat and cook slowly to dissolve the caramels, stirring from time to time.  When the caramels are completely dissolved (in about 8 minutes) and the mixture is smooth, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  The caramel mixture will be thick.

7.     Immediately spoon the warm caramel topping over the surface of the uncut blondies in wide, patchy drizzles.  Cool completely.  With a small, sharp knife, cut the entire “cake” into 4 quarters, then cut each quarter into 4 pieces.  Store the blondies in an airtight container.

Also linked to Everday Sisters blog

Almond Joy Brownies

Dark and Dusky Brownies (original name) - made October 1, 2011 from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

I defaulted to the same baking book again for the 4th brownie I made for last weekend's bake sale.  I didn't have much time and couldn't afford a "bad" recipe so I went with the same book I can always rely on for terrific recipes.  This one was meant to be a plain fudge brownie but had I left it as is, I think it still would've been a standout because of the different chocolates it, it really does make a (chocolate) impression.  I did add chopped up bars of Almond Joys to dress it up a little and it was fine but I think this would also meet your needs if you just want a nice, plain, fudgy-chocolate brownie.  Once again, use the good chocolate because you're definitely going to taste it.

1 cup bleached all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons bleached cake flour

½ cup unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder (I used Pernigotti from Williams Sonoma)

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

½ pound (2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

4 large eggs

2 large eggs yolks

2 cups superfine sugar

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.  Film the inside of a 10 x 10 x 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.  In a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with 1 teaspoons of the sifted mixture.
3. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, melted unsweetened chocolate, and melted bittersweet chocolate until smooth.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolks slowly until blended, about 15 seconds.  Add the sugar and whisk until combined, about 30 seconds.  Blend in the vanilla extract and melted butter-chocolate mixture.  Sift the flour mixture over and stir to form a batter, mixing thoroughly until the particles of flour are absorbed, using a whisk or flat wooden paddle.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
5. Bake the brownies in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until set.  Let the brownies stand in the pan on a cooling rack for 2 hours.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  With a small, sharp knife, cut the sweet into quarters, then cut each quarter into 4 squares.  Remove the brownies from the baking pan, using a small, offset metal spatula.  Store in an airtight tin.

Bake and serve within 3 days

Toffee Pound Cake

Toffee Pound Cake - made October 1, 2011 from The Complete Book of Baking from Pillsbury (book #168)

This was the only non-brownie I made for the bake sale and that was for any non-chocolate lovers.  I love toffee and baking with toffee or brickle chips.  For people who like a little crunch in their baked goods but don't like nus (like me), toffee is a good alternative.  This cake was a pretty good pound cake with a nice texture that was also moist.  I didn't think it was particular toffee-tasting though.  It was more like a good vanilla pound cake with just a hint of toffee.  To bring out more of a toffee or butterscotch flavor, next time I'd try substituting dark brown sugar for some of the granulated sugar and adding mini butterscotch chips.  I omitted the glaze from the cake since I was packaging these for sale and didn't want a glaze to get too messy when unwrapping each individual slice.

Cake

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk

½ cup butter, softened

¼ cup shortening

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs

1 (6-oz) package almond brickle baking chips

Glaze

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 to 3 tablespoons water

1.     Heat the oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt or 10-inch tube pan.  In large bowl, combine all cake ingredients except brickle chips at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minute at medium speed.  By hand, stir in brickle chips.  Pour batter into greased and floured pan.

2.     Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool upright in pan 10 minutes; invert onto serving plate.  Cool completely.

3.     In medium saucepan, beat 1/3 cup butter until light golden brown; remove from heat.  Blend in powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Add water until glaze is smooth and of drizzling consistency.  Immediately spoon over top of cooled cake, allowing some to run down sides.

Coconut Cream Cheese Brownies

Cookie-Crumbed Coconut Fudge Squares (original name) - made October 1, 2011 from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

If you like brownies and if you like chocolate, this book is a must have.  Run, don't walk, to get it.  Many of the recipes are very similar with only slight variations but they're pretty much all delicious.  Lisa Yockelson is to brownies what Rose Levy Berenbaum is to cakes.  Meaning complete expertise and unparalelled goodness.  Seriously.  Out of all my cookbooks, this is one of perhaps a dozen that I would never give up.  I have yet to make the same thing twice but I also have yet to make a bad recipe from it.

This particular brownie has an Oreo cookie crust and the chocolate brownie is meant to be swirled with a coconut cream cheese batter.  I didn't swirl the two very much because I didn't want to disturb the Oreo cookie layer underneath but also because I wanted the coconut cream cheese parts to stand out against the brownie.  I also put the mini chocolate chips into the cream cheese batter so they would also stand out there rather than blending in with the brownie batter. 

I almost don't have to say this turned out pretty well.  The brownie was fudgy, I liked the Oreo cookie crust, the cream cheese flavor wasn't overwhelming (I don't like cream cheese per se) and the coconut gave it a nice chewiness.  Again, I only had a taste test sliver since most of this was for the bake sale but it was a pretty darn good sliver.  As with all brownies, I lined the baking pan with foil and sprayed it with nonstick cooking spray so I could take the whole thing out intact when it was baked and cooled, I used "the good chocolate" and I baked only until I had moist crumbs in the toothpick test from the center of the brownie.

Chocolate Cookie Layer

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid

1 ½ cups plus 3 tablespoons chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs (such as crumbs made from Oreo cookies)

Cream Cheese and Coconut Topping

2 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup sweetened flaked coconut

Brownie batter

2/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons bleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.    Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Film the inside of a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2.   Mix, bake and cool the cookie layer: Pour the melted butter into the prepared pan.  Spoon the cookie crumbs evenly on the bottom of the pan and press down lightly with the underside of a small offset metal spatula so that the crumbs absorb the butter.  Bake the cookie layer in the preheated oven for 4 minutes.  Place the baking pan on a rack.  Cool for 10 minutes.

3.   Increase the oven temperature to 350˚F.

4.   Mix the topping: Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl on moderately low speed until smooth.  Blend in the egg yolks and vanilla extract.  Stir in the coconut.

5.   Mix the batter: Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.  In a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with ½ teaspoon of the sifted mixture.

6.   In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter and melted chocolate until smooth.  In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk until blended, about 15 seconds.  Add the sugar and whisk until combined, about 30 seconds.  Blend in the vanilla extract and melted butter-chocolate mixture.  Sift the flour mixture over and stir to form a batter, mixing thoroughly until the particles of flour are absorbed, using a whisk or flat wooden paddle.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

7.   Spoon the batter in large dollops on the cookie crumb layer.  Carefully spread the batter over the cookie layer, using a flexible palette knife or spatula.

8.   Spoon the cream cheese and coconut topping on the top of the brownie batter.  Gently swirl together the cream cheese topping and brownie batter, using a round-edged table knife.  When swirling the two mixtures, move the knife gingerly so that it doesn’t touch (or dislodge) the cookie layer.

9.   Bake, cool and cut the squares: Bake the sweet in the preheated oven for 30 to 34 minutes, or until set.  Let the sweet stand in the pan on a cooling rack for 3 hours.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  With a small sharp knife, cut the sweet into quarters, then cut each quarter into 4 squares.

10.  Remove the squares from the baking pan, using a small offset metal spatula.

11.   Refrigerate all squares not served on baking day in an airtight container.

Bake and serve within 3 days

Macadamia Caramel Brownies

Mother Lode Brownies (original name) - made October 1, 2011 from Mrs. Fields' I Love Chocolate by Debbi Fields (book #167)

Last Saturday, I was in serious baking mode to make enough to contribute to the bake sale.  I had several people tell me they were planning on buying the Chilled Peanut Butter Brownies I posted earlier and I couldn't help thinking, "eep, should I tell them there's only 9 pieces of that one available?"  I could make more of those but I also can never resist trying out more recipes and making a variety of different types of brownies.

I had a lot to bake though so I cheated a bit with this recipe.  Instead of making the caramel from scratch, I melted some Kraft caramels with a little milk until it was the consistency I wanted (liquid but not too thinly liquid yet not too thick or else it'll be too chewy rather than creamy once you bite into it) and used that instead.  I also didn't wait for the brownie to cool, put the caramel and toppings on top and reheat it back in the oven.  I didn't want to risk the brownies drying out by a second baking, however brief, and I was also trying to maximize my baking time so I baked the brownies until they were (slightly under-)done then I poured the caramel over the hot brownie and sprinkled on the toppings.  You get the same result with less fuss.  I also didn't make the caramel layer from scratch because when I've done the sugar/water thing, the caramel always comes out too sweet, even for me.

I have to say I loved these brownies.  Out of all the things I made for the bake sale, this was probably my favorite and it was just as well I had to give all but a sliver (for the taste test) to the bake sale because I might've eaten more than what was good for me if I hadn't.  These were moist and fudgy without being overwhelming and I loved the caramel, macadamias and chocolate chips on top.  They provided great texture and flavor contrasts and complements to the brownie.

I'm happy to report that the bake sale was a huge success.  They raised over $7000 (that's right, $7K, that's not a typo).  I think it was probably the generosity of family and friends who contributed and got baked goods in return rather than they actually sold $7000 worth of baked goods but either way, those are phenomenal results.  My friend Robbie told me my contributions netted $300 which I also found amazing for 4 batches of brownies and a pound cake but I was glad I could help.  The sobering part is I don't think $7K makes much of a dent in what the family needs to cover the medical expenses but it's $7K more than they had to put towards the bills before and I'm sure other efforts will be ongoing.  Thanks to all those who contributed and made it possible.

The top view

Brownie Layer
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 ½ sticks (¾ cup) unsalted butter
1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Caramel Layer
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
¼ cup heavy cream, scalded
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toppings
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 ½ cups)
6 ounces milk chocolate chips (about 1 cup)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a 9 x 9 inch baking pan.
2. Make the brownie layer: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda.
3. In a double boiler, melt the unsweetened chocolate and the semisweet chocolate with the butter. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool slightly.
4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar and eggs until lightened and pale in color. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture and the vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour mixture.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the center is set but still moist and a bit fudgy. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.
6. Prepare the caramel layer: In a small heavy saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water over low heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then let boil without stirring until the syrup turns a deep amber. While the syrup is boiling, brush down the sides of the pan from time to time with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Remove the pan from the heat, then stir in the hot cream. Continue stirring, over low heat if necessary, until all of the caramel is dissolved into the cream. Stir in the butter until smooth. Set the caramel aside until it has cooled slightly but is still spreadable.
7. To assemble: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spread the caramel over the cooled brownie. Sprinkle the toppings – macadamia nuts, semisweet chips and chocolate chips – over the caramel layer and place the brownies in the oven for 5 minutes to set the topping (do not let the chips melt completely).
8. Set on a wire rack to cool, then cut into squares.

Bake Sale Goodies

I'll blog each recipe separately in the next few days but I wanted to at least put up pictures of what I made for the bake sale tomorrow.  In case any locals in the Bay Area want to stop by, here's a sample of what'll be available for sale.  Remember it's for a good cause, to help a family in need after a horrific accident took the lives of the parents and injured their children.  The bake sale will be held at the Starbucks on Main Street in Los Altos, CA, starting at 9:30 am tomorrow, Sunday, October 2.  In addition to the Chilled Peanut Butter Brownies, I also made:

Macadamia Caramel Brownies

Coconut Cream Cheese Brownies with Oreo crust

Toffee Pound Cake

Almond Joy Brownies

My friend Robbie also gave me this sample of what her daughter Molly, also another baker, is baking for the bake sale - super cute, don't miss out!

They Won!!!! And the giveaway winners are.....

Thanks to everyone who voted for Trey's Field of Dreams - they came in 2nd place and won the $50K grant!!! This is such great news and I know Trey's family is thrilled to get that much closer in their efforts to build a park in his memory where other children can play and be safe.

And the giveaway winners are Cindy B in 1st place and Trina in 2nd place.  Although you're the only two who posted comments to let me know you voted, I did have a couple of other entries from people who emailed me personally and/or who weren't able to comment on my blog for some reason (there are times when blogger doesn't even allow me to comment on my own blog!).  But you ladies won the draw.  (Sorry for the slight delay in posting the results but I had to wait for a friend to come over to do the drawing this morning.)  Please email me your address at pastrychef17@gmail.com along with which books you want - Cindy gets first pick of 2 books and Trina gets her pick of 1 book after Cindy has chosen.  And thanks again for voting and spreading the word - every vote counts and you made a difference.  Thank you!

Chocolate Coffee Cake

Chocolate Coffee Cake - made September 28, 2011 from The Golden Book of Chocolate published by Barron's (book #166)

Last day to enter the baking book giveaway and to vote (see a few posts below) - please vote!

It never fails that when I don't have buttermilk, I come across all sorts of recipes I want to try that use it.  Then once I do buy some buttermilk, I can't find those recipes again and the recipes I do come across use milk, sour cream, heavy cream and every other ingredient except buttermilk.  Someone tell me that doesn't just happen to me.  Even if you have to lie to me.

Fortunately, after some exasperated flipping through the remaining baking books in my baking challenge, I did zoom in on this recipe that uses buttermilk and a whole cup of it at that.  This bakes into a simple 9 x 13 cake which is the easiest for me to cut up and give away.  I was meeting my friend Emily for lunch so it was a good excuse to share it with her to take back to her office/my old company.  This came out pretty well, although a bit more dense than your average box-mix cake but not as dense as a pound cake.  It did have a rich dark chocolate flavor due to the Pernigotti cocoa I used.  But that was nicely offset by the sweetness of the chocolate frosting.  I omitted the walnuts from the frosting (of course) and instead of lemon juice, I used milk.  I added more than a tablespoon because the frosting was too stiff.  I didn't measure exactly how much milk I added but you can adjust to the consistency you want your frosting to be.

Cake

2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour

1 cup (150 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup (125 ml) strong cold coffee

Walnut Frosting

4 ounces (125 g) semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup (90 g) butter

2 ½ cups (375 g) confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used milk)

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1.    Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Butter and flour a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

2.    Stir the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

3.    Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy.

4.    Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just blended after each addition.

5.    With mixer at low speed, gradually beat in the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk and coffee.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

6.    Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-40 minutes.  Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack.

7.    Walnut Frosting: Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler over barely simmering water.  Set aside to cool.  Beat in the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and lemon juice (or milk).  Stir in the walnuts and chocolate.  Spread over the cooled cake.

 

Chilled Peanut Butter Brownies

Chilled Peanut Butter Brownies - made September 24, 2011 from Glorious Chocolate by Mary Goodbody and the editors of Chocolatier Magazine (book #165)

(Last day is tomorrow (Sept 30) to vote for Trey's Field of Dreams and enter the baking giveaway a few blog posts below - please vote - thanks!)

I was asked by a friend to contribute to a bake sale trying to raise funds to help a family in need.  The family was involved in a car accident where both parents were killed and their two children were left with severe health issues.  Family and friends are trying to raise funds to help with the medical expenses.  This bake sale is part of the effort.  I couldn't have said no even if I had wanted to (which I don't).   Baking is the least I can do to help.  For any local folks in the Bay Area, the bake sale is being held in downtown Los Altos at the Starbucks on Main Street.  Starbucks is donating coffee and the bake sale will be held outside their store on October 2, starting at 9:30 am.  Please come by and support the cause (and enjoy some brownies).

As always, I fall back to brownies and other items that can be packaged easily for sale.  I'm mindful of my friend Robbie's advice that at bake sales, kids are the purchasing decisionmakers and there's nothing like candy to catch their eye.  So I went with this peanut butter brownie and garnished it with Reese's peanut butter cups on top.  I baked the brownies per the recipe then about 5 minutes before I took the brownies out of the oven, I placed the peanut butter cups on top to let them melt slightly into the brownie.  I only cut the peanut butter cups in half so they'd be nice and chunky to bite into as part of the brownie.  Since this only made an 8-inch pan and I needed all of it for the bake sale, I only cut off a sliver for the taste test.  Seemed like it turned out pretty well.  The peanut butter layer made a nice base for the brownie layer.  If you want more texture and for those who like nuts in their brownies, use chunky peanut butter instead of smooth.  Feel free to also garnish with chopped up Snickers bars instead of or in addition to peanut butter cups and/or to add peanut butter chips to the brownie layer.  Instead of mixing the chocolate chunks into the batter, I spread them in an even layer over the peanut butter layer then covered them with the brownie layer.

Peanut Butter layer

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

Chocolate layer

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup sifted unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder

½ cup all-purpose flour

5 ounces milk chocolate, cut into ¼” pieces

1.   Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350⁰F.  Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil so that the foil extends 2 inches beyond two opposite sides of the pan.  Lightly butter the top and sides of the foil-lined pan.

2.   Make the peanut butter layer: In a medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the peanut butter, sugar and egg for 1 minute or until just combined.  Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan.  Using your fingertips (I used a small metal spatula), press the peanut butter layer evenly into the bottom of the pan.

3.   Make the chocolate layer: In a medium bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer set at high speed, beat the butter and sugar for 4 minutes or until light.  Add the eggs and vanilla and continue beating for 2 minutes or until creamy and smooth.  At low speed, beat in the cocoa and flour until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate.

4.   Scrape the batter into the baking pan and spread it evenly over the peanut butter layer.  Bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted 2 inches away from the center comes out clean (I go for moist crumbs rather than “clean”).

5.   Cool the brownies in the pan on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Using the foil as handles, lift the brownies out of the pan.  Invert the brownies onto a large plate and carefully peel off the foil.  Invert again onto a smooth surface and cut into 12 brownies.